Author Archives: Avril Hannah-Jones

Sermon: Scarcity, Abundance, and ‘Enoughness’

Posted on August 11, 2018 by Avril Hannah-Jones

We are not God, we are not called to be God, and so just as we are, we are good enough, perfect enough, powerful enough, strong enough, extraordinary enough. Continue reading →

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Posted on August 4, 2018 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Communion, the Eucharist, the Lord’s Supper, has many symbolic and spiritual meanings, but it is also always about feeding the world’s hungry. Continue reading →

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Reflection: My chains fell off, my heart was free

Posted on July 16, 2018 by Avril Hannah-Jones

I am proud of the Uniting Church and of every member of the Assembly who discerned a way forward with grace and humility. Continue reading →

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Sermon: Kindred in unity

Posted on June 23, 2018 by Avril Hannah-Jones

I believe that we will be able to live together in unity as kindred. That is not naïve optimism. It is faith based on what God has managed to do in the past. Continue reading →

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Assembly Working Group on Doctrine response to Prof James Haire

Posted on June 21, 2018 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Prof Haire’s response to the Report reveals a superficial and selective reading and, at times, a misreading or misrepresentation of its content. Continue reading →

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Sermon: The importance of good biblical interpretation

Posted on June 16, 2018 by Avril Hannah-Jones

Bad Biblical interpretation has been used by Christians to justify the most appalling crimes against humanity: slavery; the Holocaust; apartheid. We must read the Bible carefully, in context, and through the lens of Jesus’ commands that we love God and neighbour because the alternative is terrifying.   Continue reading →

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Sermon: So, you want to have a king …

Posted on June 10, 2018 by Avril Hannah-Jones

In the same way that we can be certain that the author of Samuel was wrong to attribute a desire for genocide to God, we can be certain that there are things that we believe about God today that will later be revealed to be wrong – because we are human and, as the Apostle Paul wrote, we currently only ‘see in a mirror, dimly’. Continue reading →

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Sermon: Jesus (mis)reads the scriptures

Posted on June 2, 2018 by Avril Hannah-Jones

The Pharisees are shocked at Jesus’ apparently cavalier attitude to the laws governing the Sabbath. Modern Christians are shocked at Jesus’ apparently cavalier attitude to biblical interpretation. Continue reading →

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Women Celebrating Justice: Reflection for the Victorian Country Women’s Association

Posted on May 31, 2018 by Avril Hannah-Jones

In 1928 when the CWA opened ‘rest rooms’ throughout Victoria it was overturning an injustice that meant that women couldn’t travel far from home. We all know how important it is for women to have access to toilets; even today some girls leave school when they start menstruating because they don’t have access to water and toilets. So well done to those very first members of the CWA! Continue reading →

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Sermon: Is Isaiah a role model for volunteers? (National Volunteer Week)

Posted on May 26, 2018 by Avril Hannah-Jones

In the same way, Isaiah keeps prophesying even though he knows he will fail, and we keep offering our best efforts to the church community to which God has called us even if we don’t know what success would look like. It’s counter-intuitive, and it’s why volunteering is the wrong word. Instead we should talk about ministry, or service, or even about acts of love. Continue reading →

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